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IN THE NEWS

We're getting ready for prom season with Inwood Academy for Leadership in New York CityDiscovery Communications, January 30, 2018Behind-the-scene photographs of Inwood Academy's Say Yes To The Prom shopping day event.

NYC high school prom to be on TLC showFox5NY, January 26, 2018Behind-the-scene video of Inwood Academy's Say Yes To The Prom shopping day event.

'Say Yes to the Prom' Returns With Retail Partner Macy'sWWD, January 7, 2018An announcement of Say Yes To The Prom contest winner Inwood Academy for Leadership.

Spread Love: Unity In Progress MuralUptown Collective, August 25, 2017"Unity is something that not only the Inwood community should have but the whole world" declared Inwood Academy student Meliza Cepeda.

Best of the Bronx: Autistic Bronx teen to attend science and technology academyNews 12 The Bronx, March 17, 2017The 10th-grader from Inwood Academy was nominated by the National Academy of Future Scientists and Technologists to attend their academic honors summer program in Massachusetts.

Chrissy Lewis-Summers' program goes Beyond Sticks to help girls develop leadership, characterESPN, October 12, 2016Lewis-Summers worked with Inwood Academy to make it the first public school in the city to offer field hockey.

City unveils first batch of schools in new district-charter partnershipPolitico New York, February 11, 2016Inwood Academy is one of eight public charter schools selected by the Department of Education to collaborate with eleven traditional public schools.

All-Girls Wrestling Team a Hit at Inwood SchoolDNAinfo New York, December 23, 2015This year, the team's coach and athletic director decided to split the squad between girls and boys to encourage more participation from the ladies. The move resulted in 16 girls from the school trying out for and making the team—a bigger turnout than their male counterparts.

Google Classroom at Inwood AcademyCenter for Educational Innovation, May 2015Staff and Students at Inwood Academy for Leadership (IALCS) have never been strangers to technology, but this is the first year that technology has fundamentally shifted classroom instruction. Piloting a new 1 to 1 initiative this year, each high school student now has his or her own Chromebook to use throughout the day.

Woodworking at Inwood AcademyCenter for Educational Innovation, April 2015Inwood Academy for Leadership has recently integrated a unique woodworking elective into both the school’s curriculum and after school program. With an emphasis on safety and creativity, the class provides Inwood high schoolers with technical experience for post-secondary work while also providing tangible results.

Get Focused on Reading (New York Edition)YouTube, April 9, 2015Inwood Academy hosts Get Focused on Reading, a free book give away that promotes reading and exercise in underserved communities all around the country.

A council bill and a looming report thrust ‘backfill’ into charter-school debateChalkbeat, New York, March 3, 2015Christina Reyes, founder and executive director of Inwood Academy for Leadership Charter School, said she backfills for financial and ideological reasons. Not doing so is unfair to district schools that are usually obligated to accept students throughout the year, she said. “If a district school doesn’t have a choice, why is it OK that we have a choice?” Reyes said.

Tisch: No special treatment for city-defended chartersPOLITICO New York, January 12, 2015In a December interview, Christina Reyes, executive director of the Inwood Academy for Leadership Charter School, told Capital, "Anyone who wants to come into our school at any time would find out in ten minutes why we deserve to be renewed." Reyes pointed out that her school has a relatively high special education rate, making it more difficult to boost test scores, and that the Inwood Academy does not use the harsh "no-excuses" disciplinary model that other charters have been criticized for.

City reveals elusive data for 13 charter schools: How many students leave each yearChalkbeat, New York, January 12, 2015Inwood Academy has one of the lowest four-year average student attrition rates among New York City charter schools.

Leaders line up Los lideres se alineanManhattan Times News, August 27, 2014“They’re on a mission. The Inwood Academy for Leadership Charter School (IAL) kicked off its school year this past Tues., Aug. 26th at the school’s new location at West 204th Street in Inwood.”

NYC students learn with iPads Estudiantes de NYC aprenden con iPads (español Dic 2013)El Diario New York, December 18, 2013In Inwood Academy charter school, uptown, students use their tablets through applications as part of the teaching process.

Inwood Academy Host UN DelegationManhattan Times News, October 2, 2013The Inwood Academy for Leadership Charter School, in partnership with World Vision, hosted students from around the globe this past Wed., Sept. 25th to discuss issues ranging from how their schools are different, how to be a global leader and how they are similar to other children from across the world.

Inwood Students Show Uptown Culture to United Nations Student DelegationDNAinfo New York, September 26, 2013Middle schoolers at the Inwood Academy for Leadership invited seven children from Albania, Brazil, Bangladesh, Mexico, Sierra Leone and Uganda on a half-day visit to the charter school. The schedule was planned entirely by the Inwood students, said IAL student leadership coordinator Denise Hykes. "We figured, let's empower the student council," Hykes said. "They came up with the whole program that we wanted to do today."

International students visit Inwood Academy for Leadership Charter SchoolChalkbeat, New York, September 25, 2013“Exposing our students to experiences that teaches them that they can be leaders not only in our community, but around the world is invaluable,” said the school’s executive director, Christina Reyes. “The children planned this visit with care and excitement and took away many valuable lessons from this visit. Meeting children from places they have never visited gives them the vision that anything is possible.”

Off the ‘Chart’ersNew York Post, May 15, 2013“It breaks my heart to have parents call and text me and ask what number is their child on the waiting list — because I have to tell them and be honest and not be able to provide any more than just the number,” said Christina Reyes, principal at Inwood Academy.

In quest for better leaders, charter sector program looks inwardChalkbeat, New York, August 3, 2012Most of the educators who joined in the weeklong orientation said they wanted to grow professionally without leaving their schools. John Harrison, the director of English and language arts programming at Inwood Academy for Leadership Charter School, said his principal encouraged him to join the program to gain skills he would need to run a high school once Inwood Academy expands beyond its middle school. But first he wants to learn how to define the role of school leader so it isn’t overwhelming.

Changing course, state says English learners are “at risk”Chalkbeat, New York, January 6, 2010Bowing to pressure from both internal and outside groups, the state has abruptly reversed a policy that banned charter schools from giving admissions preference to students who are not fluent in English. Initially, Inwood Academy’s principal Christina Hykes (Reyes) applied for a charter that would set aside 50 percent of the school’s seats for ELL students, creating two separate lotteries. But state officials told Hykes (Reyes) that only students “at risk of academic failure” could be singled out and given admissions preference. ELL students were not among these, officials said. [Inwood Academy reapplied and was the first charter school in New York City to reserve half of its lotter for English Language Learners.]

State policy an obstacle to charter school serving English learnersChalkbeat, New York, December 21, 2009When Principal Christina Hykes (Reyes) applied for a charter, she envisioned a school where half the students were English Language Learners and half were general education students, making Inwood Academy the first charter school in the city to propose such a model.

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